HANDKERCHIEF

han'-ker-chif (soudarion): A loan-word from the Latin sudarium, found in plural in Acts 19:12, soudaria; compare sudor, "perspiration"; literally, "a cloth used to wipe off perspiration." Elsewhere it is rendered "napkin" (Luke 19:20; John 11:44; 20:7), for which see DRESS ; NAPKIN .

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.